Strange Encounters
by hiya24
Summary: xxxholic crossover. An interesting meeting in the park will turn life upside down for awhile. kinda a series of oneshots but can be taken as a storyline
1. Strange Encounters

Strange Encounters

A/N: First xxxholic fic, only my second Ghost Hunt fic so please be nice. Spoilers for the end of Ghost Hunt anime.

Disclaimer: If I owned xxxholic it would be much weirder and if I owned Ghost Hunt Mai and Naru would have kissed by now and Masako would have been possessed by something that made her try to kiss Lin (O, plot idea). Needless to say I do not own them nor do I live in luxury though I do wish for it

:-:-:-:

Watanuki wondered just how it was that odd things just always happened to him. Being able to see normally invisible creatures did not help him to stay on the normal side of things, but this was starting to be ridicules even for him.

Watanuki stared at Yuuko for a moment longer. _Did she just send me on another mission? And one where she isn't even certain of the nature? I hope Doumeki is coming._ The boy thought to himself, though he would be loathed to admit the last part.

As it was Yuuko had just told him that she had a new mission for him and she did not know the exact nature of it (at least that was what she said). The vague idea she did give him was that there was a spirit at a park and it needed to be dealt with.

"I am sure that Doumeki will be free to help you out with this." Yuuko said as though she had heard Watanuki's thoughts, and he figured she had.

"I don't need that idiot's help; he'll just get in my way." Watanuki said with clenched teeth, though he knew that he would accept the other boy's help anyway, so did Yuuko who just laughed at his out-burst.

Watanuki sighed, "Tonight is going to be a long night…"

:-:-:-:

Mai was wondering just how lost she could be. It wasn't as though she was no longer in Tokyo, at least she thought she was still in the city, but she did not recognize anything around herself.

"Guess that the next time I get mad when leaving work I should not take off running till I don't know where I am." She said to herself.

Normally this would not be a problem since she would just find someone to give her directions back to her section of the city. However, she could not find anyone and was beginning to be suspicious that ghosts were around, which was causing her some mild panic.

After some more walking she came to (dun dun dun) a park. Deciding to take a rest and trying to clear her head she sat on the swings.

"It's all that stupid Naru's fault." She began angrily to herself, "If he could just learn to be nice once in awhile and not insult my intelligence… Why did he have to be so mean? I know that I am not the brightest all the time, but does he really think that lowly of me? Then why did he give me the job?"

By this point the girl was in tears and wishing that Bou-san was near to make her feel better. As it was she was alone and simply allowed herself to cry not noticing the two boys entering the park.

:-:-:-:

"So this is the place Yuuko told you about?" Doumeki asked.

"Yes already! Why did I have to get stuck with you?" Watanuki exclaimed.

The other boy just shrugged and continued walking as he asked, "Do you see anything yet?"

"No… Who do you think she is?" Watanuki replied pointing at a small girl on a swing set.

"Hn"

"Do you know how to answer beyond giving one syllable? Ugh."

Following this exchange Watanuki did see what they had been sent there to kill. It was a rather gross looking spirit (though this author cannot think of many that he's seen that have been pretty); it had red eyes with a black body that seemed to swirl around in mist. One of the first things the boy noted was that the spirit was not attacking him but seemed to be going for the girl on the swings. This was not good in Watanuki's opinion since she seemed to be oblivious but not quite, as the spirit drew near her she started looking around herself nervously and she held her nose much like Watanuki was at the moment.

"What does it look like and where is it?" Doumeki asked as he scanned the area.

"Black and swirly. It's going for the girl. I think that if I walk away from you it'll go for me and then you'll have an easier time killing it."

Doumeki agreed, or at least made a noise that sounded like an agreement, and started walking away from Watanuki while the other boy did the same. Once there was quite a bit of distance between them Watanuki watched the spirit as it looked at the girl and then at him. The spirit smiled at the boy and continued for the girl.

"Shit, shit, shit. Doumeki it's not falling for it!" Watanuki yelled at his rival.

This caused both boys to run for the girl. They were praying that they were fast enough. Watanuki reached the girl first and toppled her off the swing. When this happened the spirit got very angry at Watanuki for disturbing the snack it wanted. This, however, allowed Doumeki to feel it, thus he was able to pinpoint it and kill it quickly.

"Ugh." Came the sound from under Watanuki.

"Oh, I am so sorry. Are you alright?" Watanuki exclaimed as he swiftly got off the girl and onto his feet.

"I think so… some scratches but nothing serious. Are you OK? I mean I don't know exactly what that thing was but it did not feel nice." The girl replied.

"Yes I am fine. So you can sense the supernatural as well?"

"Kinda, apparently I have 'latent ESP' whatever that means, but who are you?"

"Ah, I am Watanuki Kimihiro and that is Doumeki Shizuka

"I am Taniyama Mai. Um, can you help me get home? I was running and got lost in this part of the city…"

The boys looked at each other. Mai seemed to trust them instantly which seemed strange, but then again what was not strange in their lives. So they shrugged and answered.

"Ok"

Doumeki added, "We'll take you home so that nothing happens to you on the way."

"Where do you go to school?" Mai asked to which Watanuki answered whatever the name of the school is and received the name of Mai's school (sorry, lazy author didn't want to look it up).

Following this Watanuki asked about Mai's parents as he thought they would be worried, this lead to the revelation that they were dead and Watanuki let her know she was not alone since his were dead too. This lead to talk about jobs and work.

"Naru is the most narcissistic man on the planet. I mean he is good looking and he knows it and he doesn't think well of anyone… Sometimes I think I just hate him. I mean sure he might be able to destroy a god but he is still human."

"Don't worry, at least he doesn't give you half answers to important questions and then make you walk with someone you don't like all the time. And he doesn't sound like an alcoholic with a pork bun for a friend…"

This drew a blank stare from Mai, and Doumeki thought they should stay away from the subject of the witch commonly known as Yuuko.

"What did Naru do that made you so upset?" Doumeki asked as he tactfully (though Watanuki would never admit it) steered the conversation away from things he thought would not sound believable.

"He told me to organize these files and so I did it alphabetically, but apparently there were numbers on the files that I didn't see and he had wanted them filed that way so he (sniff) told me that he didn't know how someone like me was able to get to work in the morning."

By this time Mai was about to go full on with crying, which made Doumeki want to roll his eyes but he was trying very hard not to.

_Not the eye roll, not the eye roll. It will just make her cry more… hey that rhymed…_

So Doumeki instead got Watanuki's attention to let the other boy know he had better do something about this. Watanuki did do something about her crying.

"Is that all?" He asked rather innocently, though he probably should have known better.

"NO! This morning when I made his tea Masako was there and she made fun of my skirt. How was I supposed to know that she thought my skirts look childish… it's not like I have all the yens in the world so that I can look as nice as she does all the time. And then he made me remake the tea because it was only warm when I took it to him and not as hot as he liked…"

Mai was now into full rant mode and both boys were stunned. Doumeki thought that she almost lived up to Watanuki's rants except for the fact that she was most definitely not as loud. Watanuki thought it was amazing she had the energy to stay that mad at someone, not realizing just how much other people thought that whenever they watched him in his rants.

:-:-:-:

Reaching Mai's apartment had only taken about an hour, during which time everyone's age was known as well as school and work, though exactly who Watanuki worked for and what he did was not discussed but rather skirted around thanks to Doumeki. By the time they were at the front steps of Mai's apartment building Doumeki had realized a few things. First, it seemed as though everyone would want to protect this girl even if she did seem to have a knack for trouble. Secondly this knack for trouble reminded him a lot of the boy standing next to him leading him to believe that the girl needed as much help as she could get. Lastly (at least at that moment it was the last thing) it was it good thing people wanted to protect her all the time or she would most likely already be dead.

At the front steps Watanuki began to bid Mai farewell, which of course included quite a lot of flapping his arms around and trying to insult Doumeki. Mai laughed at the display, which made her feel slightly normal compared to the boy, and thanked them wholeheartedly.

"Do you have any wards set-up in your apartment?" Doumeki asked.

Mai thought the question was a little odd, but then again she thought everything about the boys screamed odd. So she listened for that little voice inside that always told her who she could trust, currently it was saying, "Nice guys, they feel like older brothers… It would be nice to see them again." Since this was the first time the voice had said something like that she decided that they always made things abnormal.

"I don't have any wards set-up right now… Do you really think I need them?"

"Well the way Watanuki described the way that thing went for you I think it would be better to be safe… I'll make some for you tomorrow and will bring them before the end of the week." Doumeki then turned as he waited for Watanuki to finish his flailing about and for Mai to enter her building, then the boys left.

:-:-:-:

The next day while Mai was at SPR working she was finding herself thinking about the two boys from the night before. She remembered the way they had fought and talked together, the way they had saved her (from which she now had several bandages on her back caused by the gravel meeting her back rather harshly). Above all she was wishing she had a friend like that, who she could trust and would take care of her the way Doumeki was with Watanuki.

This caused Mai to sigh right when Lin was walking behind her.

"Is there something wrong?"

"Oh! Oh, no, nothing is wrong…"

"OK then"

"Mai, tea"

For the rest of the day Mai tried to not allow herself to wander off into her dream world and to instead focus on her work.

:-:-:-:

"So how did last night go? I almost got worried when it took you so long." Yuuko asked Watanuki when he arrived at the shop.

"It went fine; we had to save a girl from the spirit. It actually preferred her to me which was strange, but we got it and we took the girl home so that we knew she was safe." Was the reply.

"Hm, this girl sounds interesting… what was her name?"

"Taniyama Mai, she's an orphan too and works for something that actually deals with spirits and… Yuuko-san no tasting the ingredients before I'm done cooking!" The last part was said rather loudly with Watanuki waving his arms around to get his point across.

"Oh it's not going to hurt anything, but back to this girl what else were you going to say?"

"It's probably nothing but I thought you'd want to know she said her boss destroyed a god."

This news caused Yuuko's eyebrows to go up in surprise, which in turn surprised Watanuki since he thought Yuuko knew just about everything. Apparently not.

"I think I want to meet this girl sometime." Yuuko said in her mysterious voice that she used when she did not want to tell Watanuki everything. This caused the boy to wonder about Mai and made him decide to try to not allow Yuuko to meet her.

:-:-:-:

A/N: Yeah it probably sucks, but I was trying for something original and this is what popped into my brain and refused to go away. I will probably update it when I figure out where I want to go with it. Any suggestions are welcome for plot or spelling/grammar (though I know what I'm doing for the next chapter), flames make me cry but then I go and fix it. Also, reviews make me want to update faster. Hope you enjoyed )


	2. The Third Kind

The Third Kind

A/N: Ok so thank you for the reviews, you have given me the courage to continue on with this… um there is a bit of a nod here to LoOkYiTsSpAm if you really squint at it you can see it… I hate long author's notes so that's it for now.

Disclaimer: See first chapter, besides if I owned them they would have had to have a higher rating

:-:-:-:

Mai was frustrated. Not only had Naru demanded tea the moment she walked in the door (which was normal for her), but he had also added that she should make sure the tea was hot. This would not seem too awful on a normal day, but this was not a normal day, this was a sweltering 95 degrees in the shade kind of day. In order to make Naru's tea as hot as she could Mai had practically sweated off the lunch she had eaten while in the kitchenette making the tea. She made iced tea for herself and Lin since when offered the man had jumped at the chance to cool down a bit (not literally jumped). Naru got his very hot tea and Mai was wondering when they would have to make a trip to the hospital for Naru's heat-stroke.

As it was now, Mai had hardly been able to drink her iced tea because the phone kept ringing, thus the real reason for her frustration was not being able to cool off with her yummy iced tea. Once again the phone rang and with a bit of a growl almost coming out she answered.

"Shibuya Physic Research. Tanimaya speaking, how may I direct your call." It felt like that was all she had been saying for the entire day.

"Mai-san, it's Watanuki." Mai instantly felt her mood lift.

"Oh! How are you?"

"I am fine, you?"

"Good, at least I can't talk about it all right now since I'm at work"

"Me too. Listen, Doumeki was able to make you those wards so we are going to bring them over later, what time are you off by?"

"I don't get off till 5…"

"That's fine" Watanuki cut her off, "We can meet you at your work a bit before that and walk you home. Then Doumei can set-up the wards in your apartment."

"Um"

"I'll make dinner and dessert for us all. Doumeki is a walking bottomless pit so we'll make sure that we stop off at the market to get food before going to your apartment."

"Um"

"OK so see you later."

"Um"

Click.

Mai stared at the phone in her hand. She didn't remember inviting the boys over nor did she remember saying anything about dinner. In fact about the only thing she could remember saying was "Um". Sighing she replaced the phone in its cradle and thought about the night. Just then Naru decided to make an appearance.

"Who was that?"

"Um… A friend that is meeting me after work." From the look Naru gave her, Mai thought she might want to look into not using 'Um' as much.

"The office phone is not for personal use."

After this Naru turned back into his office and added,

"Mai, tea. Make it iced this time."

Mai actually did growl this time and hit her head against her desk. At least the evening should be better, she reasoned with herself, since she would be able to see the two new friends that made her seem normal.

:-:-:-:

Watanuki looked over at Yuuko.

"I'm out of sake."

"Yeah yeah, I have more right here. So I am leaving in about a half hour is there anything else you need before I go? I left the fried fish in the refrigerator along with the other twenty bottles of sake and the leftovers from last night. I've finished dusting and cleaning. Was that all?"

"Yes you may go for the day. Is Doumeki waiting for you?" Watanuki didn't like the way Yuuko raised her eyebrows when asking this.

"Yeah, we're going to go see Mai and set-up some wards for her since we think she has a problem similar to mine." He said rather hastily as he started to make a bee-line for the door.

"Well, I expect to hear all about it tomorrow. Good night Watanuki."

Maru and Moro did a little dance as they helped or rather hindered Watanuki out the door. Waiting outside was Doumeki and the two boys left together. Watching them part Yuuko said to herself,

"I wonder what this is going to do…"

:-:-:-:

Back at SPR Lin was a bit confused. It was 4:30 and Mai was making more tea when neither Naru nor himself had asked for it. He figured that she was probably thirsty, but he could hear her mumbling about something and was trying to understand it while failing miserably. Also his Shiki were acting very strange, they were whining and trying to leave while rubbing against him. All in all something did not add up.

At 4:40 someone came into the office. Whoever it was caused Lin's Shiki to all leave him and go into the outer office. Thinking that something very bad was there and endangering Mai, the Chinese man leapt from his desk and rushed out. The sight that greeted him was not what he was expecting.

In the middle of the floor a tall lanky boy rolled around. Standing beside Mai's desk was another tall broad shouldered boy and sitting at her desk was Mai. Mai had a shocked look on her face the standing boy had a rather stoic look on his face that could give Naru a run for his money any day and the boy on the floor… He was yelling "Shit shit shit shit shit" So many times Lin couldn't keep up with it.

After recovering from this slight shock Lin realized why the boy was rolling on the floor. His Shiki were… tickling the boy? But indeed they were and the boy was laughing uncontrollably while swearing at Lin's 'pets'.

"I thought this wasn't supposed to happen when you were around!" The boy on the floor yelled.

"Hn"

"Can't you give answers that are longer than one syllable? Useless idiot!"

Lin decided that his Shiki had more than enough fun and whistled them back to his side. Looking over he could see that Naru's door was open with Naru standing in the frame.

"Sorry about that…" Lin said as the boy got off the floor.

"Those things obeyed you? Never mind, I don't want to know." The boy said and Mai introduced everyone.

"Would you like some tea? I know that you probably had to walk for awhile and so I made some for you." Mai said and then included Lin in the invitation.

Lin watched Naru watching the scene in front of him. The boy's eyes narrowed slightly while Mai poured tea for her visitors and was talking with them. The three seemed to know each other in a friendly unaffected way. The two boys were wearing uniforms from the same school, though how they knew Mai was a mystery to Lin since they did not go to her school.

Naru decided to make his presence known as Watanuki was finishing a rant about how Doumeki never appreciated all the wonderful food Watanuki made for him. Naru stepped into the outer office and all three boys looked at one another. Watanuki shifted closer to Doumeki. This made Doumeki look at Watanuki and then narrow his eyes at Naru.

Mai watched all of this and decided that it was ample awkwardness for one day.

"I'm finished for the day so Watanuki, Doumeki and I are leaving. I'll see you tomorrow Naru, 'Night Lin."

And with that she pushed both boys out the door, grabbing her own things and left.

Naru turned to Lin, "Have you seen them before?"

"No, the one was able to see my Shiki and they were drawn to him…"

"I don't like this… Mai could be in danger."

"I think that she would follow her 'intuition' and if they meant her harm she would let us know."

"I still don't like it."

:-:-:-:

Doumeki and Watanuki were trying to convince Mai to go into a little shop they had seen on the way to the office. It looked rather creepy on the outside and sold… sake, Watanuki had taken one look and seen some sake that Yuuko wanted, thus the reason for the detour. He just knew that if he didn't get it she would know somehow and then she would find some way to make his life miserable for about a week. Also it would save him a trip the next day since he would most likely have to go out and get more for the alcoholic he called a boss anyways.

"It will just take a minute and then we'll go buy everything for dinner." Watanuki pleaded. "Please…" and a pout was added.

Doumeki was standing there watching his friends and trying to not laugh at the adorable face Watanuki was making… then he realized that he just thought of Watanuki as adorable and mentally kicked himself.

"Only for a minute and then we're leaving." Mai told her new found friends in her 'take me seriously' voice, which no one ever seemed to take seriously.

"Thank you thank you thank you" Watanuki exclaimed and ran into the shop.

Fifteen minutes and twenty bottles of sake later the trio exited the store.

"I think your boss has a problem." Mai said for about the tenth time eyeing the bags filled with sake.

"Trust me this is one of her smaller problems… though I don't mean in physical size since that pork bun of a plushy is one continual pain in the ass!"

Mai giggled at Watanuki's outburst and they headed to an actual grocery shop to buy dinner. While there Doumeki requested (although Watanuki thought it sounded more like a demand) something that was not in season and Watanuki went through another rant. Mai was learning to take her cues from Doumeki on when to plug her ears so that her hearing would still be intact the next day.

Back at Mai's apartment Doumeki set-up the various wards and was showing Mai how to do it so that there would not be a need for a trip to her apartment every time she needed them. Meanwhile Watanuki made a delicious dinner for the three of them. Mai didn't notice but Watanuki also cleaned most of her apartment while he made dinner, even though she did a good job of keeping it tidy she didn't know that Watanuki was a little bit obsessive compulsive and so therefore when he saw a bit of dust he went haywire. Luckily Watanuki was able to keep his side cleaning to a minimum so that Mai didn't realize what he had done even after they left, though she did think her apartment smelled better over the course of the next few days.

After dinner and when Watanuki was done boasting on how well he had made it and calling Doumeki an ungrateful cretin while praising Mai for her manners, the two boys left. Mai thanked them many times over to the point where even Doumeki was blushing slightly. Once the door was closed behind them Mai leaned against it and listened to them make their way down her hall.

"I hope that someone will care for me like that one day…" she said to herself.

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Mai then started cleaning the dishes from dinner and putting the leftovers in the fridge. Though Doumeki did eat a lot there were still quite a few leftovers which would keep Mai fed for about a week.

"I guess that I can take some to the office… Lin-san would probably enjoy them…"

:-:-:-:

The next day at Yuuko's shop Watanuki was busily doing his work while Yuuko was trying to pump him for information. She was not being discrete about it and Watanuki was trying his hardest to not give her a reason to be interested in Mai, he was finding himself caring for the girl in the way he could imagine caring for a little sister if he had one.

"So are you sure nothing interesting happened while you were at Mai's?"

"Yes I am certain that her apartment was fine and normal… well as normal as you can get!"

"What about her job? I know that you went there first," Yuuko replied to Watanuki's raised eyebrows with, "you are not quiet when using the phone."

"Oh… well she does work with some interesting people." The moment the sentence was out of his mouth Watanuki was kicking himself and starting waving his hands, "No, no, that's not what I meant! I mean for normal people they seemed interesting."

"I can imagine that her boss would be very interesting since you already told me that he destroyed a god." Yuuko said in that tone of hers when she knew someone was lying.

"Uh, um, ok so yes he was interesting…"

"And?"

"When I saw him yesterday I felt his power… I don't normally feel Doumeki's power and he is an exorcist…"

"I think I would like to meet Mai's boss…"

:-:-:-:

A/N: OK so that probably sucked worse than the last one… but apparently not everyone thinks that so I'll keep writing, I mean it's actually therapeutic for me since if I don't write it it'll stay in my imagination and drive me insane… The reason that the chapters are so long is that I am writing them as though they are one-shots with a common thread, but this one most definitely went into multi chapter story mode. I am open for ideas since this story has taken on a life of its own and I have no idea where it will go, so I could use ideas that you think of while reading this and if I use them you will get credit and possibly a dedication. I hope you liked it and tell me what you thought of it please (I guess I'm not above begging). )


	3. Bang Bang

Bang Bang

A/N: Can anyone guess where I'm getting my titles from? If you do I'll give you hints or spoilers.

Disclaimer: See chapter one, and if I owned them I wouldn't owe the government and the bank so much money right now… sometimes being a student sucks.

:-:-:-:

Bou-san decided that some fate existed that hated him. It wasn't that the day had started off particularly terrible, though falling out of bed should have given him a clue, but it had officially become a bad day. He was wandering around looking for something to do since his band rehearsal that had been long over due was canceled, again… Bou-san sighed to himself as he continued walking since he couldn't even go and visit his favorite adopted sister and if he dropped by SPR he would just get thrown out and insulted. He had nothing to do.

Thinking about Mai made him remember the other day and her odd request from Naru as well as the circumstances surrounding it.

FLASHBACK (Makes me think of flashdance…)

Bou-san, Ayako, and Yasuhara were visiting Mai at SPR while Naru had just yelled that he did not run a café. The four were chatting about an upcoming case (I'm being a bad author and will give the details when they're needed, Wahwahwahawah, sorry for the evil laugh).

"Mai, tea." Naru demanded as usual. Even though the heat was still present it was not as bad as the day when Watanuki and Doumeki had visited and Naru deemed that if he was not going to suffer from heat-stroke he wanted his tea hot. This, of course, was much to the discomfort of Mai since she was the one who had to sweat through making the tea in the steaming kitchenette.

Even still she answered with a "Yes" and ran off to make it.

While Mai was in the kitchenette making the tea the phone rang. Bou-san, Ayako and Yasuhara all looked at each other, Mai didn't hear the phone over the whistle of the kettle and none of them were going to answer it. After the third ring Naru came out of his office, glared at the three people he considered more useless than a ball of ear wax, and answered the phone himself.

"Shibuya Physic Research, Shibuya-san speaking." Naru said in a rather brisk tone as though he didn't like to talk on the phone.

"She is not available at the moment." The three heard him say in reply to whatever was requested from the other side of the conversation.

"I am not her answering machine, so no; I will not tell her you called." Naru's eyes were beginning to narrow.

"I do not care even if you think it is a matter of life and death, Mai does not need to see you!"

After that statement Naru slammed the phone down and then directed his glare at the three of them. They all gulped as they saw their lives flash before their eyes. Naru went back into his office while Mai came out and followed him to serve his tea. The next part stunned the trio into silence and wondering.

They could all hear raised voices through Naru's door, which was not abnormal to hear Mai's raised voice but Naru's was as well. Mai was very angry and Naru was speaking rather loudly about freaks while Mai threw the freak comment back in his face. Naru's voice quieted for a minute followed by Mai running out of his office and yelling,

"I am taking Saturday off whether you like it or not! If you really don't like it fire me!" punctuated by the door slamming shut. None of them heard Naru, on the other side of the door, mutter something about bad influences in the shape of boys who roll around on the floor.

"What did he do this time?" Bou-san asked the girl in that 'I'm your big brother and you can tell me anything' way.

(Sniff)"Don't worry Bou-san, I'll be fine… would you like some iced coffee? And iced tea for Ayako-san and Yasuhara-san?" Mai asked as she broke into a smile.

Bou-san frowned a bit to himself, this was the first time since they'd met that Mai didn't come to him with whatever it was that Naru had done to make her cry. But then again he figured she probably needed to learn to grow-up, so he smiled back and accepted the coffee.

BACK TO NOW

Bou-san was currently wondering just why Mai had requested, or rather demanded, Saturday off. That had been Wednesday and she still had her job. But since today was the day she had wanted off he had already dropped by her apartment to see if she wanted to see him, only to find she was not home. So now Bou-san was wandering a park filled with people and pets as he tried to think of something to do and stop his mind from running around in circles wondering what Mai was doing.

After a few minutes of wandering aimlessly he saw a boy yelling at… air? Deciding that no one yelled at air without a reason he made his way towards the boy. As he neared the boy stopped yelling and a confused look crossed his face. The boy looked around and spotted Bou-san.

"Are you an exorcist?" The boy asked causing Bou-san to blink.

"Among other things" was the reply.

"Well thank you for keeping that thing from eating me…" The boy trailed off looking around and yelling "Mai, Doumeki, I'm over here!"

Bou-san didn't know which he was more surprised by, the way the boy flapped his arms or the fact that the Mai he called was Bou-san's Mai. As Mai and the other boy ran up the first boy started talking about some monster that had tried to eat him and ended his wild one-sided conversation with inviting Bou-san to have lunch with them. Mai took one look at Bou-san and burst out laughing.

"I'm going to have to start agreeing with Yuuko that there is only Hitsuzen." Mai got out between giggles.

The two boys looked at her and then at Bou-san.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Bou-san these are my friends."

After introductions were made Watanuki started going off about food and Mai was helping him prepare it.

"So you're that monk who ran from his temple?" Doumeki asked Bou-san.

"Well I think the better term would be I'm taking a break from it. How did you know?"

"My family has a shrine; you know how the old monks like to talk…"

This caused Bou-san to laugh as he remembered some of the gossip he had heard while at the temple. Doumeki joined him and the two laughed and talked for a few minutes about the memories.

It wasn't long before Watanuki and Mai were placing plates and chopsticks out for everyone. Bou-san had to wonder how Watanuki was able to flail about and nag on Doumeki while making the lunch. He also wondered what the food was going to taste like with the way Watanuki went on about how he slaved over making it.

Once they started eating Bou-san's eyes just about popped out. He never would have thought that something could taste this good.

"Watanuki, you are a genius!" Bou-san was able to get out between taking bites of the delicious food.

"Thank-you, at least not all monks are devoid of proper manners." Watanuki answered while directing the last part of his reply towards Doumeki.

"Idiot" Doumeki said.

"Um, why don't we go and play in the water?" Mai suggested to stop the name calling that would soon escalate into Watanuki face-planting after Doumeki found a way to turn Watanuki's own insult back on him.

"Lovely idea Mai, but where do you suggest we get the water? Or the swim-wear? Or the towels? Since we obviously did not plan on doing…" Watanuki stopped when he saw Mai was trying to decide if she wanted to be angry or cry, either one was doom for him. If she got angry he would have a rather large bump on his head for a few days, if she cried Doumeki and Bou-san would make him pay. Lucky for him she got angry.

Thawp

"Ouch, did you have to hit so hard?" Watanuki whined while rubbing his head.

"If you didn't try to act like a know-it-all it wouldn't happened!" Mai hissed. "I get enough of that at work!"

Watanuki tried to look for help from either of the two men. Bou-san shrugged and smiled. Doumeki added,

"You should have known better"

"Please Mai… not the rub… NOOONOOOO" Watanuki cried as Mai sat on him and rub his head with her knuckles.

"Doumeki, I'll never forgive you for teaching her this one." Watanuki growled from beneath Mai.

"Idiot"

Bou-san was laughing so hard he thought his sides had spilt. Mai jumped off Watanuki and gave her Bou-san a hug saying,

"I feel like I have three brothers now… I wish we could be…" Bou-san looked at her and could see that she was truly enjoying herself, wanting it to last. It was brought to a bit of a halt as Watanuki said,

"You need to be careful what you wish for… sometimes the price is too high."

Bou-san and Mai held identical looks of 'WTF' as Doumeki cleared his throat.

"I think that we should all be her older brothers, and so Mai, you can call me Nii-san if you want."

"I would like that very much, but if I call all of you Nii-san won't that get confusing?"

"Well, you can call Watanuki Nee-chan and Bou-san you already call Bou-san so I don't think that needs to change."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE CAN CALL ME NEE-CHAN! I AM NOT A GIRL!" Watanuki was able to make the whole park hear that while flapping his arms and making a rather large display of himself. Mai giggled and the others laughed.

Watanuki was still fuming while Bou-san, Mai and Doumeki chatted. Abruptly Watanuki became silent.

"What is it?" Doumeki asked.

"Can't tell, but it is not nice."

"Should me and Bou-san leave?"

"No, I think it would just follow you and I don't think Doumeki can protect you and me at the same time if we're separated."

"I am a monk, so I can protect her."

"Huh? Oh yeah, Doumeki what do you think?"

"I'm not the one that can see it, idiot."

"Argh, fine than, it looks like a troll with pink hair and green eyes."

"Pink hair?"

"Yes like the little trolls people used to buy all the time in the eighties."

"I don't think I've come across one these before." Doumeki said.

"I don't have a clue what you are talking about." Bou-san said, at which point Mai grabbed his hand and started for his car.

"They'll have an easier time taking care of that thing if we are not there." She offered in way of an explanation, "Watanuki can see things, from what I understand of it you can compare his ability to Masako. Doumeki is an exorcist and they make-up a team."

"Oh, why do you hang around them?"

"They make me feel normal and safe."

"Hn, how'd you meet?"

"They saved me from getting eaten in a park and then they set-up wards in my apartment… Today was a way for me to thank them, I bought the food."

"Wait, you said they make you feel safe… Do I not do that?"

Mai saw this coming and was hoping to not have a car wreck, but sometimes there is only fate.

"No, I didn't mean it that way. But every time Watanuki is in trouble Doumeki rescues him… They have a bond and I wish I was able to find that with someone…"

Bou-san looked at her, understanding that she felt safe when he was with her but not when he was absent. He also realized that he was not the person to fill the role she had just described.

"I am sure that you will find someone to share that bond with."

They shared a smile and were distracted by a yell from Watanuki trying to find them.

"We're over here!" Mai shouted back.

Once they were all together again it was decided that Mai would get a ride from Bou-san and Doumeki would walk Watanuki home.

"So how long have you two been together?" Bou-san asked during the good-byes.

"What!?" Watanuki's mouth just flapped open as Mai again giggled and Doumeki smirked.

"See ya" Doumeki waved as he walked off dragging Watanuki behind him.

Watching them Bou-san was glad Mai had met them and made friends, or rather brothers now. Also he was happy that the day had a good ending.

:-:-:-:

A/N: Writing all that fluff at the end of this has gotten me in the mood for some serious angst now, oh well. I promise that Naru vs. Yuuko will come soon, just wanted to do a little something before that and this popped into my head but I couldn't get it to flow so it took a bit to get it down and that's why it wasn't up sooner. Anyways, I know it sucked (Ok so it didn't really for all of you who get mad at me for saying that), but please review so that I can now how to improve and what I'm doing right, thanks )

Nee-chan: Japanese for older sister said in a cute or endearing way.

Nii-san: Older brother.

Bou-san: monk, but that's what they call him


	4. My Girl

My girl

A/N: So I was distracted with my other fics and kinda didn't update this one… sorry. Slight hints at spoilers.

Disclaimer: if I owned I wouldn't be worried about late papers

:-:-:-:

Lin sighed to himself. Yes, the man had the capability to sigh even if he hardly ever did it. So what could cause such a man to sigh? The object of the frustrating sigh was walking towards him now. Masako was clinging to Naru as the boy was trying to disentangle himself from her grasp. Mai had seen the two and after taking one look had quickly ran in the other direction. Lin really felt for the girl, and thus his sigh.

As it was, Naru had surprised Lin by taking the case Masako brought to them. There was a local haunting and Masako had been approached about it. It was only after she had taken on the assignment that she had found out about other physics and mediums being there, one of which she thought was a complete fraud. So she had asked Naru to assist her in the same way they had done when investigating the former Prime Minister's house. It had taken well over a week before Naru had caved in and Lin thought it was due more to the fact that he was annoyed beyond anything than actually wanting to look into it.

Carefully watching to insure that the media did not see Naru was a task when Masako did not let go of the boy, even though they had used Yasuhara as a decoy for Shibuya-san it looked as though Masako did not think about the fact that the media would see her as dating Naru. '_Or she did think about it and doesn't care because she would rather be trying to impress someone else with that… she really needs to not be so selfish sometimes, though I could say the same for Naru._" Lin thought.

Walking back towards the base, Lin stiffened as he felt his Shika start to act up. '_Great, here comes trouble._'

'Trouble' came in the form of two tall boys which everyone in SPR now knew of, especially after the monk had met them. The 'strange one' (aka Watanuki) came up to Lin and looked at him and then at what Lin could only assume were his Shika.

"Good Morning" The boy greeted.

"…" Was the response Lin gave.

"They seem different today… what'd you do?" Watanuki asked a very surprised Lin.

"I went and purified them and myself not long ago… you can tell that?"

"Yes, though it's hard to describe."

"Well that's a first. No one has ever been able to see a change in me after that since I normally don't change much myself in appearance… guess that they do though."

Watanuki nodded in answer to Lin's question and then quickly scanned the grounds.

"If you are looking for Taniyama-san I believe that she is in the base. I'm going there myself so I can show you the way." Lin offered

"Oh, Thank you but I was looking for someone else. Maybe you've seen her Kohane-chan?"

Lin instantly knew who the boy was talking about, and it surprised him to some extent. That was the girl Masako was positive was a fraud. Lin didn't know the details, just something about how Masako and some other medians were on a TV show and the girl had said they did not see a ghost that she claimed was there. Even Masako did not feel or see the spirit. Nodding Lin started to lead the boys in the opposite direction to where he had last seen the girl.

"Kimihiro, what are you doing here?" Kohane said the moment she saw the boys.

"Kohane, I came to see you since you did not come to the park. I had to sneak past your mother and three camera men to get here too." Watanuki said as he pouted at the last part.

Kohane smiled at him, "Thank you for coming to see me, but I don't think this is a good place for you. There are not many spirits, but there is one very powerful one that might try to harm you. Please go and I'll come tomorrow."

"It's ok. I brought spirit repellent." Watanuki answered as he pointed at Doumeki who exchanged nods with the girl. "Besides, there's another person I want to see who I just found out is here and I want you to meet her too."

"I've only seen one person here who looked like he was connected to you, though this man is the same. I take it they know you through this girl?" Kohane asked as she indicated Naru and Lin.

"Yes he does. Please come this way if you would like to meet her." Lin said in response, he really needed to get back to the base.

Once in the base Kohane looked at Mai, then at Naru (who had just escaped Masako) and back again. Mai was growing uncomfortable with the stare and Watanuki was looking at Kohane with interest.

"So do you pick up on that better than me?" He asked the girl.

"You cannot see it well?" She asked in response.

Mai growled and said, "Hi Watanuki, Doumeki. What brings you here today?"

"Ah, Mai. Sorry, this is Kohane-chan and I came to see her. Once I got here I found Lin-san and he was kind enough to help me find her and bring me to see you." Naru glared at Lin. "So what are you working on?"

"Just investigating this case… you are adorable. Can we go play?" Mai asked Kohane.

Kohane looked taken back for a moment; Watanuki was about the only one who had ever tried to treat her as a child, and not an object or a means to get what they want. Nodding to Mai, Kohane left with the other girl as they went outside. Watanuki and Doumeki followed the girls to play with them and the base was suddenly much quieter.

Naru looked at Lin and glared at the man followed by requesting tea. Lin would have rolled his eyes except that it was out of character for him to do so in front of people. Lin then decided to let Naru suffer for a bit and went outside to observe the playing children. Mai was picking flowers while Doumeki held them for her. Kohane and Watanuki were sitting on a bench not far from where Lin was standing and he listened in on their conversation just because he could. Also, he just wanted to find out more about the girl so that he could get out of the case.

"Have you not seen it?" Kohane was asking Watanuki when Lin quietly came up behind them.

"No, I don't always see the connections that bind people together. I have seen them before, but not most of the time." Watanuki replied.

"But that is such a strong bond, it really surprised me to see that and you to have not noticed it before… those two will have some troubles ahead of them, but they will always end up seeing one another." Kohane said rather cryptically, according to Lin.

"But why do they have such a strong bond? You said it looked like they had a person in common who was helping to make the bond even stronger?" Watanuki prodded, much to Lin's delight.

"Yes… it's someone who is close to both, but I couldn't figure out who it is." Kohane said.

"What could keep you from that?"

"If the person was dead or didn't want to be known." Kohane answered, Lin was about to fall over.

"Who are you talking about?" Lin interrupted, not caring that he was being very rude. Watanuki let out a yell in surprise and Kohane just looked at the Chinese man

"Mai and Naru." Kohane said after a beat. Lin looked at her again.

"What did you see?" He asked.

"I saw a bond that tied the two together very closely. It was red and black with other colors mixed in, like some white and yellow. The presence of the black confused me because both are alive but this indicates the presence of death in their relationship. Did someone they were both close to die?" Kohane explained a bit more.

Lin just looked at her for a moment.

"I do not know of any one that they both were close to who has died. Please do not tell them about this, they need to come these realizations on their own." Lin requested.

Kohane nodded, "That is why I did not say anything back there. You are a very interesting person as well. I do not believe that I have meet someone as powerful and dark as you before."

"I'm dark?"

"Well you do know much, and you have to deal with darkness daily... I think you do know the person that binds those two together…"

Lin gave her a questioning look as Mai ran to the trio with a bunch of flowers. She had made a crown of flowers for Kohane and apparently Doumeki had made one for Watanuki to which Watanuki's reply was, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU WANT ME TO WEAR THAT?!"

Kohane wore her crown and looked even more adorable. Watanuki had his crown put on his head rather unwillingly, thus he looked very cute (even Lin thought so) as he pouted. Mai was about to go back into the house when Kohane grabbed her hand.

"Watanuki, can you see it too?" Kohane asked as her grip on Mai's hand tightened

"If you are talking about the big black thing that is staying in the doorway then yes." Watanuki replied.

Lin just shook his head, '_Leave it to Masako to not be able to admit when she is wrong… this girl seems even more powerful than Masako, I wonder if she could rival Gene._'

Lin looked at the four children, "I'll go and talk with Naru. Mai I have a feeling that we'll be leaving soon so you don't need to worry about going back in anytime soon."

Mai blinked at Lin, "Uh, Ok"

Lin turned to Kohane, "Do you think you can handle this? Or would you like some help?"

"I think that I will borrow Doumeki for a moment and then it will be fine." She replied, to which Doumeki nodded and indicated that Lin should stay with Watanuki and Mai while they took care of the spirit.

"Why would you want this useless, bottomless pit? The only thing he is good for is eating!" Watanuki cried as his cute little friend walked with his 'spirit repellent' towards the dark and formless cloud.

Lin stood with the two as they watched Kohane start to talk with the spirit. It did not take long before Doumeki had drawn out some of his own power and released it. Lin took Watanuki's sigh as the sign that they were done, and the three walked to the house again.

"We were able to cleanse the spirit, though we did a rather hasty job of it…" Kohane explained.

"I think that he is at peace, which is the important part." Watanuki replied.

Mai smiled, "I'm going to go and tell that narcissist that everything is good now. Maybe I can be home in time to have dinner."

Lin wanted to smile as Mai led the way back to the base. '_I can't wait to see Masako's face when she is told that her 'fraud' was able to cleanse something that she had a hard time seeing… or if I told her that I think this girl is more powerful than her or about the very strong bond that girl saw… __Watanuki__ does know how to pick winners._'

:-:-:-:

A/N: probably sucked, but I don't care because this idea was in the back of my mind and Innocent Illusion just made me want to write it even more… the Naru meets Yuuko is still in progress, if you have any really good ideas for it please let me know.


	5. Extra Dimensional

Extra Dimensional

The sun shone brilliantly off puddles in the street left over from the rain the night before. There had been a fierce storm with lightening and thunder, which had ended as the sun rose signaling the promise of a new day. However, there was a certain young man hurrying to his office that did not see it as a good beginning.

Naru was late getting to his office, and since this _never_ happened to _him_, he was irritable. Now the fact that a car had splashed him with puddle water up to his chest did not help matters. Back to the fact as to why he was late, the storm from the night before may have played the lightening and thunder beautifully, but it had kept him up till 2 a.m. and cut his electricity rendering his alarm clock useless. Naru had finally woken up when Lin had knocked on his door letting him know that they were already supposed to be at the office to which Naru had replied that Lin should go and Naru would catch-up at the office. This brings us to now, with a very irritated Naru soaked in puddle water; and since the authoress likes to torture him she will inform the reading audience that most puddle water includes some form of feces, Naru knows this so his irritation is not unfounded especially considering the color of the puddle.

Running across the street Naru had three cars honk their horns at him, a lesser man (or just one that shows emotions normally) would have made obscene gestures while cursing at the drivers who were almost running him over. Naru only allowed himself to glare at all the drivers, which shut them up as he pointed to his green light.

Finally getting into the office alive and in one piece, though all the substances still attached were not exactly in the good smelling corner since the puddle water was practically steaming off him, Naru wondered why he had even gotten out of bed. The power was out at the office too, which included the air conditioner, Naru could have groaned. Lin had already set-up his laptop and any other battery powered equipment they needed, including a kettle.

After cleaning up the puddle water, Naru went to his office, closed the door and opened the blinds so that he could do his reading. By noon he remembered that he usually left the blinds closed, so that he would not get sun-burnt, which his neck was by then, also he realized that the heat would be lessened if he had left them closed. Once again he wanted to groan, this time though he compared himself to Mai and how he always called her an idiot in his mind. Thinking of the devil, 12:15 on the dot, Mai called in saying that she was going to be late.

"Why?" Naru asked when he spoke with her on the phone.

"My electricity went out last night so my alarm didn't wake me… and I got detention."

"If you are always late for school you will never get any smarter"

"Whatever, I'll be there an hour after normal. Bye."

Naru stared at the phone a moment after Mai hung-up.

'That was unusual.' He thought and then replaced the receiver.

Naru remembered that there was an appointment scheduled for half an hour after Mai's shift was supposed to start. This time a groan almost made it out of our favorite narcissist. Not having Mai there would cause him to have to try to be nicer from the beginning and he found the interviews went better when she was present since clients seemed to warm-up instantly to the girl. Deciding there was nothing he could do about it he went to make tea.

:-:-:-:

Five minutes before the client was to arrive, Naru asked Lin to make some more tea. As the Chinese man did so, Naru looked over the file for the prospective client.

'Why doesn't it give the details of the strange activity, if there is any? Who is Ichihara Yuuko? Why is there just a name and phone number, and not even an address?' Naru thought to himself as he looked at the file, 'At least the power, and air, are back on…'

:-:-:-:

"Why are we in the Shibuya district?" Watanuki asked Yuuko.

"I have an appointment here in five minutes." Was the smug reply.

"With whom?"

"That is a SURPRISE!" Yuuko said while throwing her hands in the air and jumping. Monoka chanted "Surprise!" in the background.

"FINE! WHERE IS IT!" Watanuki screamed at the hyper duo. Yuuko pointed to a building across the street. Watanuki screamed, quite the girlish scream, when he saw where.

:-:-:-:

Naru thought he had heard a scream, but shrugged it off. When Lin came back in with the tea he said,

"I think Mai's friends are around."

Naru raised an eyebrow in response.

"My Shiki really like that strange, loud one."

As soon as the words had left Lin's mouth, the door opened to reveal a tall, thin woman with dark hair and amber eyes dressed in an outfit that Naru didn't think even models would try to wear for fear of exposing too much accidently. Following behind the strange woman, Naru saw the 'strange, loud one' aka Watanuki. He was still muttering under his breath about alcoholics, fat black pork buns, and something about how he never knew how sweet little Mai could have ever fallen for the 'poisonous evil fangs.'

When Naru's gaze fell on Watanuki it went glacier as he then said,

"Mai is not here. I would appreciate it if you did not disturb her when she is at work."

Watanuki started sputtering, "But I'm not here because I want to be! Trust me, being around Doumeki is better than being around you!" He added an emphatic finger pointed at Naru when he said 'you' just for the effect. Switching to pointing at Yuuko,

"She dragged me here, completely not of my free will!" He ended with a huff and crossed his arms.

Although Naru still did not like Watanuki, he still could not help the thought of Watanuki with cat ears coming to mind at the image the other boy presented. Shaking his head he turned to the woman, who was laughing.

"Watanuki, you need to learn to be quiet, but please do so for now. He is here" she turned to Naru, "because he is my employee and I heard of this great sake shop near here. So after my appointment with you that is where we are going and he is needed to carry it all home." The last part was said very cheerily, while Watanuki rolled his eyes keeping quiet as asked.

"Ichihara-san, it is a pleasure to meet you." Naru's eyes held no warmth as he said the words.

"May I ask what you need our services for?"

:-:-:-:

A/N: So this is where I've stopped for now... willing to take suggests, I wrote this out a while ago and lost the original ending so feed back would be muchly appreciated. Arigito and smiles


End file.
